Destiny's Fortune
by Darkness-Chill
Summary: It's difficult for one half elf to survive, never mind for two to try and take care of a child. As war rages on around them, Mithos and Yuan have to raise Mithos's three-year-old sister, Martel. Unfortunately, Martel's a bit of a handful.
1. Travel

Hello!

I know, I know. Another one. You don't have to tell me. But this is the prequel to Fated for Forever! I think you'll like it.

What do you mean there's already a prequel? This is prequelyer. :D

This is the Kharlan War story within that universe. Namely, the universe where Mithos was the older sibling and Martel was the younger sibling.

For new readers, hello! Thanks for clicking on my fic, and I hope you like it! If you do, you might wanna check out some of the other things I've written within the Fated universe (for instance, Fated. :D) –shameless plug-

For returning readers, hi! I told you I was doing it!

Summary: It's difficult for one half elf to survive, never mind for two to try and take care of a child. As war rages on around them, Mithos and Yuan have to raise Mithos's three-year-old sister, Martel. Unfortunately, Martel's a bit of a handful.

Warnings: Er… none, I think. I'll edit this later if I come up with something.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

><p>"Yuan, I sure hope you know where we're going." A blonde half elf grumbled as he carefully balanced a sleeping green haired girl in his arms. She was leaning on his shoulder, fast asleep, and the boys were hoping she wouldn't wake up while they were walking.<p>

"I do." Yuan Kafei said, confident, turning back to the road and away from his friend's line of sight before frowning. _'I hope.'_

Trisfeld wasn't an easy town to find if you weren't entirely sure what you were looking for. The town was nestled between two mountains, next to a ravine that seemed endless. The town itself wasn't visible from the main road—only the edge of the ravine. Once you began to approach the ravine, the road to the town and the town gate began to come into view.

If you knew to look for the ravine, Trisfeld was easy to find, but otherwise, most avoid ravines due to the typically unstable ground near the edges of them. Yuan _had_ been born in Trisfeld, but he and his mother had moved to Heimdall when he was six. His six-year-old memory of the area surrounding Trisfeld was a little shaky. The caravan they'd managed to get passage with had only gone as far as Luin, and Yuan hadn't been in Sylvarant in seven years. Still, he wasn't going to tell Mithos this. The blonde had enough on his hands now that he was suddenly the only guardian for his three-year-old sister.

"I think I see the ravine." Mithos pointed. Yuan followed his gaze and sure enough, there WAS the ravine, sticking out of the valley between two mountains. They had been heading the right way!

"We're almost there, then." Yuan said, "How's Martel holding up?"

"She's still sleeping." Mithos said, readjusting his sister's position, "She's gonna be hungry soon, though, and I don't have any more food for her."

"Okay. When we get there, then, you get us a room and get her into a bed, and I'll go find food." Yuan said, "I'll meet you back at the Inn."

"Sounds good." Mithos said, nodding. Yuan turned to give his friend a smile as they pressed on.

XXXX

It took a half hour to make it into the city, and Mithos immediately went to the cheapest looking Inn he could find. Between the three half elves, they didn't have much Gald to go around.

He tucked his sister into a bed and sighed, walking over to the window and pushing the curtains back to look out over the city. When Yuan had suggested they head for Trisfeld, he'd immediately thought his friend had gone crazy. They were twelve and thirteen, with a three-year-old girl to take care of, and he wanted to switch continents and go to a town that might not even accept them through its gates?

He'd gone anyway, though, since he had no better ideas, and he had to admit, maybe Yuan wasn't as crazy as he'd seemed. The town was large enough to require three Inns, and it didn't seem at all like many people recognized the people they passed on the streets. They might be able to blend in enough to stay here for awhile.

Hopefully long enough to figure out what they were going to do next.

Yuan entered the room, having got directions from the Innkeeper, and put a bag of food down on the small desk. "She still sleeping?"

"Yeah." Mithos nodded, "How's the city?"

"Just as big as I remember it." Yuan shrugged, plopping onto the floor with a sigh. "I'll head out to see if I can find any of my old neighbors in the morning."

"Just be careful and try not to draw suspicion." Mithos said, "Even if no one said anything, I don't think any town in Sylvarant or Tethe'alla is going to be accepting of half elves right now."

Yuan nodded. "I'll be careful."

XXXX

Early, _early_ the next morning, Yuan woke up to someone shaking him. Turning over, he saw Martel was sitting on the floor next to where he was sleeping, looking wide awake. "Wake up!" she giggled.

"Shh, shh, Mar." Yuan said, grabbing her and lifting her up. She squealed, and he yawned, not wanting to be awake. A glance over at Mithos in the bed where he'd fallen asleep next to his sister confirmed he was still fast asleep. "What are you doing up? It's really early."

"I'm not tired." She shrugged, giggling again. Yuan sighed, knowing there was no getting her back to sleep now. He readjusted her position in his arms and walked over to the window to see what time it was.

People were mulling about in the streets, so he assumed it was at least near the beginning of the work day and shops would be opening soon. "You hungry?"

Martel nodded enthusiastically, and Yuan walked over to the bag of food he'd bought the day before. Looking through it, he pulled out some crackers for the three-year-old to munch on and opened them for her, sitting down on his makeshift bed. She sat down next to him and ate them, quiet.

He and Mithos had quickly learned that Martel could only keep quiet when she was eating. The food seemed to keep her attention so she didn't need to squeal or get someone else's attention. He didn't want to wake up Mithos—the blonde hadn't been sleeping well while they were on the road, and if he could get some sleep now, that was a good thing. Once his friend _did_ wake up, he'd head out to see if he could find any of his old neighbors.

In the event that Martel got too restless before then, though, he'd have to head out earlier and take her with him. His blue hair walking through the streets of Trisfeld was going to be suspicious enough without her green hair tagging along, but he'd do what he had to.

Martel finished her crackers quickly and looked up at him, "Are we walking more today?"

Yuan shook his head, "No, we're staying here for awhile."

Martel grinned, "Good. I'm tired of walking."

Yuan chuckled, ruffling her hair a little, "Feel like sleeping a little more?"

"I'm not tired!" Martel protested.

"But I am." Yuan whined. Martel pouted, puffing her cheeks out. Yuan rolled his eyes, "Well, we at least need to keep quiet so we don't wake up your brother, okay?"

"Okay!" Martel chirped. Yuan gave her a look, and she slapped her hands over her mouth, mumbling, "Oops."

Yuan chuckled.

XXXX

Martel did really well staying quiet—Yuan played a few games with her, but she grew bored after two hours of games and started to fuss. Seeing no other choice, he pulled her sweater on and picked her up, leaving a note for Mithos and leaving the Inn room. The other half elf deserved to get some rest, and really, blue hair was going to stick out enough, having Martel with him wouldn't make the image _that_ much weirder.

With that settled and the toddler leaning on his shoulder, Yuan left the Inn, heading immediately through the crowds making up the commercial district of Trisfeld and towards the smaller residential area on the south side of the town. Bordering on the ravine, this part of the town was not where anyone would want to lie if they could afford otherwise, and had been perfect for Yuan and his mother when he was younger.

"Hey, Mar." Yuan nudged the girl. She looked up. "See that house there?"

"Yeah." Martel answered.

"That's where I used to live." He smiled.

"Can we go visit?" Martel asked, grinning.

"I don't know who lives there now." Yuan shook his head, "But we can visit some old neighbors of mine, if they're still around."

"Okay!" Martel chirped. Yuan smiled and headed up the stairs to the second level of the residential area, coming to a stop in front of a door to the two story house that was directly above his. Taking a deep breath, he knocked.

A dark haired woman opened the door a moment later. Eyeing the two, she quickly ushered them inside. "Is that _you_, Yuan Kafei?"

"That's me." Yuan nodded, "Hi, Mrs. Jeredai." He said.

"Sit, sit. What are you doing in Trisfeld? You and your mother moved away years ago."

Yuan sat down, letting Martel sit in his lap. The toddler seemed to sense that Yuan needed to talk to this woman she didn't know, and was being quiet, playing with the hair Yuan had pulled over his shoulder. She didn't start to get fussy until Yuan ignored her for a whole ten minutes, before she began to yank on his hair.

"Oww, Mar, oww." Yuan said.

Mrs. Jeredai giggled softly, "And who is this?" she asked.

"Martel." Yuan said, "Mithos's younger sister."

"My brother's sleeping." Martel informed her, because this was information she thought everyone needed to know.

"So, do you think you can help us out?" Yuan asked, hopeful.

Mrs. Jeredai sighed, "I would love to, Yuan, but I'm afraid there's only so much I can do. This town is not that approving of half elves either, you know."

Yuan sighed.

"Why don't you check out of that Inn room of yours and come stay here for a few days. That should save you some money, and I can help you with Martel. That should give you some time to come up with some idea of what to do, right? I'm afraid there's not much else I can do besides that." She frowned.

Yuan nodded, "Alright. Thank you very much, Mrs. Jeredai."

"Call me Lyei." She insisted, "Now go wake up Martel's brother. If he sleeps any longer, he'll never be able to sleep again." She joked. Yuan thanked her again, and the two of them left the house.

As they walked, Martel tugged on Yuan's hair, "Can I wake up Mithos? Pleeeeease?"

Yuan chuckled, "Sure."

"Yay!" she grinned, bouncing a little.

* * *

><p>Trisfeld: Asgard. Just in case the ravine thing didn't give it away. Jasmine came up with "Trisford" and I liked it but it didn't feel quite right, so I played with it until I had Trisfeld. Thanks Jasmine!<p>

Sheesh, when I thought this idea up, I was planning on writing just one fic. Now I have Destiny's Fortune, Fortune's Fate, Fated for Forever, and a sequel that I haven't named yet.

Geeeez…

Anyway, for JulNoWriMo this year, I'm working on the Fated universe stories, meaning that you're likely to see more of this (from here on called Destiny), Fortune's Fate (from here on called Fortune), and Fated.

So, lemme know if you guys liked it! Lyei Jeredai is likely to be the last nice person Yuan, Mithos, and Martel meet for awhile, so they'll need the love. And Kratos _will_ come in soon. I promise.

This is going to lead all the way until the end of the Kharlan War, and explain a little of what happened to spark the events of Fated, but most of that explanation is going to have to wait until the end of Fated. And maaaan are there some twists in that story coming, I promise. :D

-shouldn't be talking about other stories in this story's author's note-

Anywayyyy, lemme know what you guys thought! :D


	2. Rocks

Mithos was harshly woken up by his sister bouncing on him until he opened his eyes. Yuan was standing near the doorway, laughing hysterically as Mithos almost threw his sister across the room.

He caught himself in time, remembering that the thing bouncing on him was his sister, not Yuan or something else he could throw, and yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"What's the big idea?" he whined.

"I went and talked to my old neighbor." Yuan said, sitting down on the edge of the bed and letting Martel crawl into his lap to play with his hair.

Mithos glanced over, suddenly more awake, "And?"

"Well, she can't do much. She said we could stay with her and she'd help us with Martel for a few days until we figured out what we were going to do." Yuan said, "But it's better than nothing, and at least if we're staying in someone's house instead of an Inn, we'll look less suspicious."

Mithos nodded, sighing, "Well, I guess we should get going, then?"

Yuan nodded, "That's why we woke you up."

"I just wanted to bounce on you." Martel grinned.

Mithos ruffled his sister's hair, rolling his eyes.

XXXX

About a half hour later, they were back at Lyei's house, their things in the upstairs room they'd be sharing. Martel was playing with Lyei's dog in the backyard, Lyei watching them, and Yuan and Mithos were sitting at the kitchen table, trying to come up with some kind of idea of where to head from here. They needed to find somewhere to live, before anything else. In order to find a place to live, they needed to find a town that was accepting of half elves (much easier said than done—the war had been going on for almost a hundred years now, and a great majority of the world's human population had been born into war.)

They were going in circles. Even if they did find a town that could take them in, they would need to find jobs or SOME kind of way to get money in order to afford a place to live (and food. Food was important.) No one was looking for a half elf to hire, anywhere.

Yuan sighed, leaning back in his chair, "You know what? Let's just travel around forever." He grumbled.

"Stop joking around." Mithos sighed, "That's probably what we're going to have to do."

"We're broke, Mithos." Yuan reminded his friend, "Unless you can think of a quick way to get some cash, we're not going to be able to even just travel around aimlessly."

Mithos grumbled, burying his head in his hands.

"Why don't you two try playing yourselves off as humans?"

Mithos's head shot up, surprised, not expecting someone else to be speaking. Lyei was standing in the doorway, Martel in her arms.

"I mean, I think Mithos would be able to—your hair looks normal enough. As long as you don't stick around too long, you should be able to find some short jobs, get a little cash." Lyei said.

"I can't play off as a human, though." Yuan said, tugging on his bright blue strands of hair. "An elf, maybe, but not in an area where elves are ever seen…"

"I could, though." Mithos said, "So, if I can get some kind of a job, we can get SOME gald." He said.

"So, what? You go off and get a job and I stay home and take care of Martel? We're practically pretending to be an old married couple." Yuan rolled his eyes.

Mithos winked, "Whatever works, honey."

Yuan smacked him, and Mithos laughed. Lyei smiled, "You'll think of something." She said, "My son will be home in a week. You can stay here until then, but I don't know how he's going to react once he's home."

"We'll be out before then." Mithos promised. "Thank you."

Lyei smiled again, "No problem."

XXXX

Mithos learned quickly that week that things come faster when you're dreading them. Soon enough, it was the end of the week and Yuan, Mithos, and Martel had to leave. They'd bought and packed enough food for at least a month on the road, but it was taking up the majority of their pack space and they'd had to sell some of the things they'd been able to grab from Heimdall before getting kicked out in order to be able to afford it. The way they figured it, they had a month to get to another city, and it had to be a city where Mithos had a chance of playing himself off as a human long enough to get them enough cash to restock on food, thus beginning a cycle.

They hoped this cycle could last long enough for them to come up with another plan.

So, with a handful of hugs and promises to get in touch and let her know how they were doing next chance they got, Yuan, Mithos, and Martel left Asgard, heading towards the small trading town of Hakonesia.

It would take them only half a day to get to Hakonesia if Martel cooperated, and judging by the amount of fun she was having riding on Yuan's shoulders, the boys didn't anticipate any problems. They were hoping that they could stay in Hakonesia for a night before heading out on a slightly longer journey—to the port town of Palmasia, a much larger town where they figured Mithos was likely to find someone willing to hire him on a temporary basis. (Or at least they really hoped.)

If that didn't work out… Well, they didn't exactly have a plan B.

"How're you doing, Martel?" Mithos asked, glancing over at his sister, still sitting on Yuan's shoulders.

"This is fun!" she grinned, yanking on Yuan's hair, "Faster, faster!"

"Mar…" Mithos warned, and Martel dropped Yuan's hair, mumbling an apology.

Yuan chuckled and sped up a little bit, but he knew that if they wanted to make it to Hakonesia in one day that he had to conserve some energy. According to Lyei, the area around Hakonesia was incredibly rocky and difficult to traverse. She'd suggested they wait until early morning before going through the rock passes, but the boys just wanted to get there and spend the night in the city instead of waiting in some rocks.

They saw what Lyei meant long before they saw Hakonesia. As they continued along the path, it almost seemed to vanish, rocks taking its place. They continued along with no concern, as these rocks were small and easy to avoid, but the closer they got to Hakonesia, the larger and more frequent the rocks began.

"Martel, can you see over this rock from up there?" Yuan asked, glancing up at the green haired girl.

She shook her head, "Nuh uh."

Mithos sighed, "Lyei warned us."

"We're completely lost." Yuan groaned. "All of these rocks look the same! How does Hakonesia even manage to survive if it's this hidden?"

"The traders and caravans know their way through these rocks." Mithos said, "I'm sure there's a path somewhere that they know to take. We just… don't. We'll keep looking. If the rocks get smaller, we're heading in the opposite direction. If the sun starts to set, we'll stop for the night. The good news is, these rocks should provide some cover—I don't think we'll be found overnight if we stop here."

Yuan nodded, taking Martel down from his shoulders. She pouted, and he sighed, "Sorry, Mar, but I need to pay attention."

Sighing a little sleepily, she nodded. Mithos picked her up into his arms, "You can sleep if you want."

She nodded again, resting her head on her brother's shoulder as they continued on.

Finally, _finally_ after two more hours of traveling through the rocks, they caught sight of lights in the distance. They'd made it to Hakonesia.

* * *

><p>Chapter two, finished! :D<p>

Okay, Palmasia is very close to where Palmacosta will be in the future, but isn't in the exact place because of things that happen later. Hakonesia is a town that I made up, but it's very close to what later becomes the Hakonesia Pass. The fact that there is currently no Hakonesia Pass is explained in the next chapter.

I'm still working out how the map looks in this, and since I'm currently without an internet connection, I can't work on it TOO much right now. I will, however, post a picture of the map as soon as I can.

Anyway, lemme know what you thought! Just wrote a scene with Kratos today and it kind of changed what happens with him, so you might not see him as soon as I expected. Sorry! Short explanation, he's in Tethe'alla right now, and Mithos, Yuan, and Martel have no way of getting there at the moment. I promise to let you know as soon as I have an idea of when he'll be introduced.


	3. Caves

Hakonesia was different than the two half-elves had expected. Sure, Lyei had told them that it was a traders town, but they expected an actual town, not a bunch of carts arranged in what kind of looked like streets to emulate a town. There were a few buildings here and there, but the majority of the town was made of moveable and temporarily placed carts.

Mithos glanced at Yuan as they walked in, both of them exhausted and neither of them wanting to sleep on the ground. "I hope they have an Inn." He muttered.

"Me too." Yuan said, sighing, "Come on, we won't know until we ask."

He lead the way through the streets, trying to find a person to ask. Most of the town seemed to be sleeping already (and he didn't blame them, he wished he was.) Mithos adjusted Martel's position and glanced at Yuan again, but the half-elf was set on his task.

Finally, they ran across someone who was outside of their cart, clearing some grass from the wheels.

"Well, hello there." He said, surprised, "What are you three doing out at this time of night?"

"We're just passing through and we need a place to stay. Does Hakonesia have an Inn?" Yuan asked.

"Sure we do." The man smiled, "Head down that way, it's the first actual building you come across."

"Thanks!" Yuan grinned, relieved to have found someone that was able to help. He turned around, Mithos readjusted Martel again, trying not to wake her up.

"She's heavier than she looks." He groaned.

"Not really, you've just been carrying her for a long time." Yuan said, "You do the talking at the Inn and I'll take her."

Mithos frowned, not even sure what he'd say if he was doing the talking, but nodded, "Alright, sure." He agreed.

Mithos carefully passed Martel over, Yuan resting the young girl's head on his shoulder this time. She stirred a little, but didn't wake up, drifting back to being fully asleep a moment later.

"Alright, good." Mithos nodded, "Come on, let's go so we can do the same thing."

Yuan chuckled.

XXXX

The Inn room they rented only had one bed, which Mithos was (again) sharing with Martel. Yuan was okay with sleeping on the floor, though, because one of the blankets on the bed was fluffy enough that the floor hardly felt like floor when he laid on top of it.

When Yuan woke up the next morning, Mithos was nowhere to be found, and Martel was still fast asleep. A quick peek outside confirmed that it _was_ morning after all, and Martel was just really really tired.

They were going to need her pretty awake for the next leg of the trip, since Palmasia was quite a ways further from Hakonesia than Hakonesia had been from Trisfeld, so Yuan let her sleep. He couldn't leave her alone, though, so he was out of ideas of things to do.

Luckily for him, Mithos walked back into the room then.

"Oh, g'morning." Mithos nodded.

Yuan yawned, "Where were you?"

"Asking around town about the fastest path to Palmasia. Was getting weird looks, though, so we should probably leave as soon as Martel wakes up." Mithos said, sitting down on the edge of the bed, "Everything still packed?"

"Yeah, we should be able to go right away." Yuan nodded.

Mithos nodded back, sighing, "I hate this."

Yuan glanced back over, frowning. "Yeah." He said, simply. He and Mithos fell silent, nothing else to say to each other.

XXXX

Martel woke up less than an hour later, so they quickly grabbed their stuff and headed out of the Inn. They slipped out of town quietly, and past the person watching the Hakonesia Caves for bandits. He waved, apparently friendly, and they waved back, not wanting to call attention to themselves. Once inside the dimly lit caves, they slowed down slightly, the pace they'd been walking not easy for the three-year-old with them.

"Owwie." She mumbled, plopping onto the ground.

Mithos frowned, "Sorry, Martel, but we need to keep moving."

Martel gave him a pleading look, and Yuan swung her up into his arms, "Only for a little bit, okay?"

"'kay." She nodded.

They started walking again. The path they were going down was pretty smooth, many carts having evened it out as they made their way down it over years and years, and the footing wasn't difficult to manage, so they were able to keep a better pace than they'd expected to. Having not traversed the path before, however, they had no idea how long they would be without sunlight.

* * *

><p>Yeahhhh, I know... it's been forever and this is short...<p>

I just didn't want to ramble about them being in a cave for the next 500 words when I could just as easily end it here and call the chapter done. Don't worry, I've started the next one! I got next to no writing done this semester 'cause of how insane it was. Good news-this next semester looks like it's going to be MUCH better.

Gonna try and update Fated and Vagrant before this break ends. (Vagrant is a definite; chapter's half done.)

Anywayyyy, I hope you guys enjoyed this, and I'll have the next one out soon!


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